Baby animal
A tender new instinct — protect it long enough for it to grow.
A baby animal in a dream — a puppy, a kitten, a foal — is the dictionary's image of a tender new instinct in you. It is not yet able to defend itself and it needs you to keep it safe from your own inner critic long enough for it to grow.
Losing the baby animal in the dream is the dictionary's strongest negative reading on this symbol — you have left a new part of yourself unattended. Most often, the dream is the wake-up call.
Where you often see it. A puppy in your hands. A kitten asleep nearby. A foal at a fence. The dream uses the baby animal for a tender new instinct in you — not yet able to defend itself.
What it is not. A baby animal is not always a literal pet wish. The dictionary reads it as the dreamer's nascent instinct asking for protection.
Related in the dictionary. Read baby-animal with baby, baby-bird, bear-cub, fox-kit, and any scene of new instinct.